LatinaLista —
Campaign: Wise Medicine: A Documentary
Our world is in crisis. Terrorism, racism, political extremism, destruction of the environment, contaminated food, the list goes on. As we look to “new” healing paradigms in our modern society – many of which have been in use by indigenous peoples for thousands of years – we can rediscover our connection to nature and to one another.
The master teacher plants used by indigenous cultures are truly ambassadors of the earth. They teach us how to be better stewards of the planet, how to heal our own personal traumas, how to mend our societies, and how to prevent and cure diseases by healing the body, mind, and soul. Wise Medicine gives us a glimpse of this amazing healing potential.
Wise Medicine is a short (24 min) documentary that explores the modernization of indigenous shamanic practices. Every year, a small group of students travel from around the world deep into the Peruvian jungle to Inkan Kena, a plant medicine school run by Shipibo curanderos, for an intense initiation into the art and science of plant healing. The shamans share the wisdom and preparation of natural plant remedies and sacred medicines, including the powerful visionary tea ayahuasca, to cleanse the body and spirit.
One student, named Amara, returned from the Amazon to establish a shamanic healing studio in Chicago, where she cultivates her knowledge of indigenous rituals into experiential ceremonies.
The film’s two-person sound/camera crew flew down to Iquitos, Peru last October to visit the Inkan Kena Healing School, where a new group of students were beginning a six-week initiation course through the Ayahuasca Foundation. They were granted access to all areas of the camp in order to document the intimate details of the plant medicine healing workshops led by Shipibo curandero Don Enrique Lopez and his brother, Miguel. The intense heat, humidity, and mosquitos of the Peruvian jungle was an experience in itself!
Over the Fall and Winter of 2015, the crew filmed Amara’s story at her healing studio in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago where they got to experience many different workshops drawing on traditions from South America and other cultures around the world — in preparation for bringing the practice of shamanic healing to a wider audience.
The campaign’s goal is $9,000.
